The Slender Man
by Madylyne Hatter
Summary: As a child, I was always lonely. The tall man in the forest seemed lonely too.


The Slenderman

When I was a child, I remember playing at the park at the edge of the dark woods I was never allowed to go in. I was a lonely child, one who was always alone, so I would always swing on then swing set, the ideal lonely child play toy, until a group of kids would make me get off so they all could swing together.

I would always hope that one of the other children would want to be my friend, no such luck. Everyday my hopes were dashed, and every new day I would raise them again with visions of laughter and fun. It was a daily routine. I grew to not care if I had friends or not, and soon I stopped saying yes to the kids who wanted my swing.

The Slenderman was always there though. Always watching. Or at least it seemed like it. His face peered out of the woods at all of the other kids, never at me. He wore a fancy tailored suit, not a stain to be found on the spotless black, his coattails hung long behind him. His skin was pale white, almost like snow, and he was extremely tall, maybe seven feet at least. The only thing that bothered me about this watcher, was that from afar he had no face. Whether it was wrapped up in some kind of gauze, I did not know. Around his neck, he sometimes wore a scarf, red or grey. Other times he wore a silver, or cherry red tie.

I used to think he had no friends either; that he was here at the park at the edge of the woods because he was waiting for someone to make friends with him too. Too bad he never left the woods.

When a string of kidnappings and serial murders occurred in the woods around the park, my mother stopped letting me go, and instead decided that if I wanted to go to a park, I would go to the overcrowded city park near the center of town. I stopped going period.

I'm older now; I don't get thrilled at going places other than my room, and I don't like anybody. Still the friendless loser that I had been as a child, I purposely do things to make those who try to befriend me stop trying.

Occasionally, I still catch glimpses of the Slenderman. Never outside of the woods, but always at the edge waiting as I passed by for work. The park I loved had been torn down years ago.

It is one of those days where I want to be alone, which is pretty much everyday. Everyone was bothering me, no one was caring. So I left the house r"on pretenses of "shopping" like a normal person. I went to my old park, intent on discovering the Slenderman

I chose four o'clock to set out on my adventure, which if I could have started out earlier, I would have. I blame my lack of planning. It's a nice ten minute walk to the park. The sky is cloudy and grey; the world is dreary and almost dead like. Not a sound is to be heard from the birds, nor the crickets, nor that constantly barking dog who lives around the corner.

There is an old wooden fence around the flat area of where the park used to stand. I think somebody bought it and wanted to keep people out, though the shoddy fence wasn't doing a very good job. I push on the old gate that has a " no trespassing" sign on it. It swings open easily.

There are dips in the land where the beloved swing set of mine once stood. I didn't even glance anywhere else, catching my first glimpse of the Slenderman peering out at me from behind a tree.

"Hey! You!" I call out breaking into a run. My messenger bag slaps against my leg, so I reach down and hold it nearer to me. The Slenderman disappears behind a thin tree. I expect him to appear on the other side of the tree, but he doesn't. He's just gone. My running slows down as I take in the first of the warning signs of not to follow him.

"Hello? Mr. Slenderman?" I tentatively whisper, my nerves and the rapidly darkening sky stealing my voice. When not even the wind stirs in the woods, I move again. Not away from the woods, but towards them as if drawn in somehow. At the line of forest, I stop. So many things feel and seem wrong.

Just a bit farther in, I spot a beautiful red scarf, tempting me to come to closer. The snow white skin is a bright contrast against the earthy greens and browns. Just like that, I step in, confidently moving towards the tall Slenderman. My eyes never leave the bright red of his scarf around his neck, seeing as he was turned partially away from me, yet still looking towards me with the faceless expression. I couldn't bring myself to stare at his face, or rather, lack of face, so the scarf around his neck was closer enough.

When I had come ten paces or so, the Slenderman turned around and slipped away, leaving me alone. I stop in my tracks. The edge of the forest isn't far. I could just turn around and go back the way I came. I could start again tomorrow, seeing as the Slenderman always haunted these woods. I could go when the sun was out and the woods weren't so dark. My mind flashes towards all the kidnappings and serial murders that had happened in these woods. Maybe he was responsible for it and I just walked into a trap. My hands went clammy. I twisted the straps of my messenger bag in my hands.

I quickly whip around and almost faint from fear. There was no more edge of the forest; there is only more and more as far as I could peer into the suddenly midnight dark forest. My first thought is to whistle and maybe someone would hear me, but I realize I would most likely attract the attention of somebody I wouldn't want to. So I quietly get out my phone and flip on the flashlight. My battery is only charged halfway.

I don't shine the flashlight up looking in all directions; I don't wildly start running anywhere. I calmly head back the way the edge is supposed to be, already knowing it wasn't going to be there.

Dead leaves crackle underfoot, and sticks crack every other step I take. I sure am noisy in the dead silent forest. Anyone looking for me is sure going to find me. I'm not sure my earlier plans of coaxing the tall man out of the forest was such a good one. I'm swallowing my trepidations and moving on, trying not to let my hand shake and jerk the flashlight around.

Up ahead, not so far off, there is a street lamp. I turn my flashlight/phone off to conserve battery. It always seemed like the last half of my battery went by faster than it should have.

When I drew closer towards the light, attracted to it like a moth, I saw that it was some sort of electrical box. There is a high barbedwire topped chain link fence. A "warning high voltage" sign is attached to the gate, which is chained shut with a sheet of paper taped to the padlock. I pull the paper off, and read it: "watches with no eyes" it says. Curiously looking around, I fold the paper in half and then in half again, unzip the outside pocket of my bag, and place the paper safely inside.

Tucked away in the pocket of light that doesn't penetrate the trees, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end like some one is watching me. Careful not to seize up, keeping my muscles relaxed, I seemingly carefree turn around to discover even if I looked hard enough, I couldn't see out into the dark. My eyes had adjusted to the light. I could feel the panic rising up in my stomach coating my throat making it hard to swallow the collecting saliva in my mouth. I'm thankful I had spit out my gum before I had gone into the woods, seeing as I probably would have bitten my tongue off already.

My flashlight goes on again. This light is swallowed up when pointed directly at anything I wanted to see. I have to point the light off to the side and use the outer light's edge to look. Nothing. Though the spotless black I'm looking for would be nearly impossible to pick out in lighting like this.

Taking several deep breaths to calm the blind panic threatening to takeover, I make a wild dash into the woods away from the street lamp. I figure if I can make it past the first twenty feet, I'll be alright, and my eyes would adjust again. I leap with an agility I never knew I possessed over a fallen tree, determined not to keep tripping every twenty seconds like every single character in all the horror movies.

A wave of cold fear washes over me, a feeling like I was being chased, one that I was not accustomed to. I throw my self to the side, landing at the foot of a tree. I crawl on hands and knees around to the other side and stay crouched, thankful for my hatred of bright colors in clothing, seeing as I surly would have been found if I had been wearing sequins or pink.

I still my fast breathing, straining in the silent night to hear my pursuer. If I had not been listening so hard, I would have missed it. The light breathing of a monster. No other sound was heard, meaning whoever was on my tail could move silently in the night and over the constant crackling of the dead leaves underfoot. Which also meant, I would never be able to hear him. I would have to rely on my sixth sense to "feel" him out.

My heart stops, knowing whoever was looking for me knew that I was some where nearby. Or that I had suddenly become a master at sneaking. Probably the first.

My butt is going numb. My legs are aching from being curled into a smaller ball than normal. My neck hurts from being tucked away into the crook of my knees. I still am hardly daring to breath, listening for the light breathing coming from the other side of the tree to fade away so I could move again. A spider crawls up my leg, and I watch it.

Slowly but surely the light breathing fades away. I'm pretty sure that the monster is gone, but I don't flip on my flashlight anyways. I slowly work myself up into a standing position and keep swallowing in case my stomach decides to upheave my lunch.

My steps are wobbly because of how long I'd been crouched at the base of the tree. I have thoughts of climbing a tree to safety, but quickly realize that all the trees had been trimmed so that the lowest branch is seven or eight feet off the ground. Whoever was keeping this forest the way of was, had certainly thought of everything when it came to keeping people on the ground.

My choices of survival are quickly diminishing. There is no way out of this forest, or if there was, it was hidden from me. There is something chasing me, and I have successfully landed in possibly the weirdest/deadliest situation of my life. Great.

I stumble off into the brush, wincing at such a loud noise. There weren't even any animals that could cover my tracks. In a few hundred paces that must have taken me five minutes to make from all of my stops, I turn my flashlight back on and keep walking in the direction that was most decidedly away from the monster. So far, I only have this piece of paper. Was there something I was supposed to do with it?

I don't even notice I'm not in the woods anymore until I step in water. At that I almost have a heart attack.

"Wha- water?" I look at my feet and then around at where I was standing. My converse All-Star shoes were soaked through in the ankle deep water. Farther out, the water got deeper. As far as I can see there is more and more water. I take a mental note of which direction I had came from and head back out of the water.

I stop in my tracks. Right there, right behind me, there my predator stands. Tall, taller than any man I've ever seen, he casts a shadow that nearly reaches the water from where he stands at the forest edge quite a long distance away. One step. His strides are long, twice the size of mine./p

"Oh, god! What are you!?" I cry out, my hand flying to my mouth after the last word. No response from the monster, besides another monstrous step. There is no place to go behind me, so the only ways I can go is either to the left or right. Right cuts close to where the killer carefully watches me, so my only option is to the left.

Never turning my body to give Mr. Slenderman a hint of where I was going, I frozen absolutely still for two seconds and then in a burst of awesomeness, made a break for the left.

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." I mumble to myself. Something slams into the ground, right where I had been standing two seconds earlier. The forest is too dark to see anything, and I was moving too fast to pull out my flashlight./p

Running, and running. I can't stop. I can't hide. I'm scared, and alone. I'm going to die. And no one is going to ever know what happened to me.

Without my light, I run smack-dab into a fence. I'm knocked back three steps. I could have sworn I felt the Slenderman right behind me.

My fingers clutch at the chain links and I almost start crying from fear. I sink to my knees and turn around. Looming over me, blocking out the moon, the dark shadow seemed to grow in size. As a safety mechanism, my brain shuts down, and I faint.

Dimly I am aware of being picked up, one arm around his neck, the other hanging down. My face is turned into his scarf. Was I going to die after knowing this warmth? I remember no more after that.

* * *

Hey, Madylyne here! I guess I could continue this, but that is up to yall guys out there! Should I continue this or not?Anyways leave a comment! I like those things... Ciao! /p 


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